A Forum for Orthodox Jewish thought on Halacha, Hashkafa, and the social issues of our time.

Monday, April 08, 2013

The Making of Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel

Although I haven’t read any of the biographies that have
been written about Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, I happened to pick up the ArtScroll
bio this past Shabbos and skimmed through it. I noticed something remarkable. Rav
Nosson Tzvi recognized that his experiences as a young man growing up in
Chicago made him who he was.

I’m not saying that his background here was the only thing
that made him great. Obviously there was a lot more that went into the making
of this Gadol than just his background. The stories told about him are
legendary. We all know about the way he ran Yeshivas Mir – growing it into the largest
Yeshiva in the world.

We know about his Hasmada (diligence) in learning Torah. We
know about the closeness he felt towards his students in the Mir. And the
enthusiasm he had in building not only the huge attendance but the bricks and
mortar to house them.

And we especially all know about the Parkinson’s disease
that plagued him until his death. The disease he suffered was not curable but...
it was treatable with medication. But when he was told that it might slow down
his mind, he refused to take it – preferring to struggle with the symptoms rather than
allowing anything to interfere with his mind.

By the time of his unexpected and sudden death he was recognized
world-wide as a Gadol B’Yisroel - From the Charedi right to the Modern Orthodox
left.

One often reads in various biographies written by the right
that if one of their Gedolim did not come directly from their Charedi midst,
they would either ignore that, or say something like, “Despite his background
he became the great and heroic figure he was.” Some call a biography
with selective editing to conform to preconceived notions be, Hagiographies. They simply omit the parts of the bio that
do not conform to their Hashkafos.

When ArtScroll publisher R’Nosson Scherman was once asked
why he omitted what Charedim consider unflattering historical facts about his
biographical subjects he answered something to the effect that in Judaism - history
is not about regurgitating facts ‘willy-nilly’. It is about inspiring the
reader about the greatness of those people.

What Charedim must mean by saying that is that they do not want
to imply that there is any other way to become a Gadol than the Charedi way. In
the rare instances where they can’t hide it, they explain it away with the word
‘despite’. Meaning that don’t you dare try and raise your children that way
because you are not the Gadol R’ (fill in the blank) was. He overcame it, you
might not, and who knows… you might even go off the Derech!

I do not call that inspiring. I call it propaganda and misleading.
Thankfully Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel’s legacy would not allow for such an
omission. One of the things he is famous for saying, both privately and
publicly is that he excelled in his role as a Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir because
of his childhood, not despite it! There was very little Artscroll could do to
scrub that out of its bio of him. So they published it in the introduction to chapter
12 - his youth in Chicago.

So what was his youth like? He went to a coed Orthodox
Jewish high school. And he lived a more or less modern Orthodox lifestyle. That
is what Chicago was like then. There was no Agudah then. Telshe had just begun.
Mizrachi (Religious Zionism) ruled the city. If you were religious in those
days, you very likely were a member of Mizrachi. I don’t know if R’ Nosson Tzvi
went to Camp Moshava (a coed Mizrachi camp) but it wouldn’t surprise me. Just
about everyone who went to a summer camp in those days went to Moshava.

As R’ Avraham Chaim Levine said in his Hespid for him. R’
Nosson Tzvi was a typical American kid. A good kid, to be sure - but American no
less. I don’t know if you could say he
was raised modern Orthodox. But the fact that he was sent to a coed high school
even though HTC had been around since the 1920s seems to indicate that this is
how he was raised. He must have interacted with the girls in his class just serving
on the student council.

And yet he said that his childhood made him who he was. I’m
sure that some will laugh at this and say that this is not what he meant. But
to the best of my knowledge he never qualified his statement.

Of course he didn’t raise his own children that way. I suppose that would have been impossible as
the Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir. Nor do I think sending a teenager to a coed
high school is a good idea. I don’t think it is. But it was certainly a good
idea in R’Nosson’s case.

I don’t think his children will have the same advantages he
did as Rosh Yeshiva… Nor will their character develop in the same way.This does
not mean to say that his children aren’t great people. I’m sure they are
in their own way. But in my humble opinion, they will not be as great as their
father because they will not have had his background… the background that R’
Nosson Tzvi attributes his success to.

R’ Nosson Tzvi is not alone in achieving greatness because of a
background that is dissimilar to how he ultimately lived his life. There are
many great people who had backgrounds like that. I personally believe that the
broader the background the greater one can become. If one follows the straight
and narrow of singular Hashkafa, he may become a great person too. But in many
cases his greatness will be limited by the limited background experiences.

In my opinion, this means that if you want your children to excel
in life, your should expose them to many Hashkafos – including those that are
different than your own… and let them choose. Barring any unusual circumstances,
you will not be sorry.

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About Me

My outlook on Judaism is based mostly on the teachings of my primary Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik from whom I received my rabbinic ordination. It is also based on a search for spiritual truth. Among the various sources that put me on the right path, two great philosophic works stand out: “Halakhic Man” and “Lonely Man of Faith” authored by the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi, Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Of great significance is Rabbi, Dr. Norman Lamm's conceptualization and models of Torah U’Mada and Dr. Eliezer Berkovits who introduced me to the world of philosophic thought. Among my early influences were two pioneers of American Elementary Torah Chinuch, Rabbis Shmuel Kaufman and Yaakov Levi. The Yeshivos I attended were Yeshivas Telshe for early high school and more significantly, the Hebrew Theological College where for a period of ten years, my Rebbeim included such great Rabbinic figures as Rabbis Mordechai Rogov, Shmaryahu Meltzer, Yaakov Perlow, Herzl Kaplan, and Selig Starr. I also attended Roosevelt University where I received my Bachelor's Degree - majoring in Psychology.